Currently on the internets is a story about a guy who lost his iPad. It seems the person who found it has been taking pictures of herself oblivious to the fact that the iPad is backing everything up to the original owner's other devices.

So he has in his possession several laughable "glamour shots" as he calls them. They're entertaining, he says. There are images where she is doing the duck lip thing and crossing her eyes and looking left, then right, then down. "Bizarre" they're calling them. They're not in the slightest bit bizarre. She's goofing off like we all might be guilty of doing if we're bored, if we're figuring out how something works and if we think we're in private. He's created a facebook page and aTwitter account where he posts the pictures so we can all have a good laugh. It's gone viral.

He wants his iPad back and I can understand that. Not having it is inconvenient. He hopes someone will recognize this person and justice will be done. I don't think that's going to happen, but who knows?

Do you know this woman?

I'm not feeling the fun here. It goes without saying that stealing is wrong. When you find something that someone else has lost and you can return it, the right thing to do is return it. I've stated clearly how I feel about this just so there's no misunderstanding.

I'm having trouble with the 'thief shaming' and the ridicule he's inviting upon this person for her silly selfies and that he feels entitled to do so because she's in possession of his iPad. He admits he lost the iPad and that's the first stupid event that happened in this story and if that hadn't happened, none of this other stuff would have taken place. Also, this:

Lost his iPad

Allen Engstrom and his family don't look like they're hurting for money. He's a Little Rock businessman. You can read all about his accomplishments on the facebook page I linked you to at the top of the post.

If his iPad was stolen, then yes, he deserves to get it back and the thief deserves to be dealt with as a thief. But if he lost it? The "finders keepers" attitude isn't unique to this one woman. It's the general attitude of most people. I don't think she should be singled out for ridicule based on this and inviting ridicule from others starts feeling like bullying and I start feeling like I don't want to be a part of it.

He disabled the location serivice on the iPad so he doesn't know where it, or she, is. He wants help finding the woman because he wants his tablet back. If he had posted a decent picture of her and asked for help ID'ing her, then fine, I wouldn't be questioning the motives here. If it was stolen, then file a police report and get on with your life. The fact that he can clearly afford to replace the iPad, posted unflattering photos for laughs and invited the public in on the joke leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Also we have the unhealthy dynamic of apparently affluent, white, business man vs black woman. The high road would have been to swallow the loss because he was the one responsible for losing it - if he lost it - deleting the iPad from iCloud so it ceases to back up to his other devices and moving on with his life. If I had an iPad and I lost it, I would hope that the person who found it turned it in. It could happen. If it was not turned in, I would kick my own ass for being stupid and write it off hoping that the person who found it needed a break in life. On the scale of losses one can experience in life, one being losing a pen and ten being losing a loved one in death, this would be a 1.5.

It doesn't escape me that I am guilty of assumptions as well. I assume by the photo and facebook profile that this is a middle to high income family in Arkansas and I have assumed that the one in possession of the iPad now, is a low-income, black woman. It is possible that none of these assumptions are correct but odds are they're right and I'm saying this is low but then getting laughs at the expense of another through humiliation and shaming is low. That's pretty much why I don't appreciate most pranks.

Also, I dislike the Three Stooges and most anything done by Jerry Lewis especially his stupid bell boy shtick. Just saying.